Laine Hardy celebrates the wild side of his country upbringing in the new track, “Authentic,” dropping the hard-driving country rock anthem today (July 23).
Highlighting the former winner of American Idol’s rowdy side, with crunchy guitars and mandolin joined by pounding drums and a devil-may-care vocal, the track is full of a party-starting potential. It finds a Louisiana native delivering a dose of foot-stomping, chest-thumping attitude, and promising to stay true to his swampy roots — no matter what.
“Well it’s who we are, it’s what we do / The way the good Lord meant it / It’s in the blood, tires in the mud / It’s just the life that we’re living / It’s tried and true, can’t buy it new / If you think you can you don’t get it / If it burns your lips, when you take a sip / You’re gonna know it’s / Authentic,” goes the chorus.
“Authentic” marks the follow-up to Hardy’s current single, “Memorize You,” which was released in May and was performed during a recent episode of ABC’s The Bachelorette. The loud-and-proud “Authentic” was written by Jessi Alexander, Matt Jenkins and David Lee Murphy, and produced by Michael Knox (Jason Aldean), who has also produced Laine’s previous tracks.
After winning American Idol in 2019, Laine Hardy set out on a virtual tour in 2020, and yesterday (July 22) started headlining the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour. He’ll continue on that coast-to-coast run through the fall, and makes his Grand Ole Opry debut on August 28. Hardy’s other releases include “Tiny Town,” “Ground I Grew Up On” and “Let There Be Country.”